It is already known that the tube-chamber feeder system which is generally operated for the hydraulic transport of solids can also be used for cooling the atmosphere in mine shafts and/or the machinery installed therein, as may be gleaned from the disclosures in German Patent Specification DE-PS No. 30 40 283 and German Offenlegungsschrift DE-OS No. 32 12 108. These tube-chamber feeder systems are connected to a low-pressure liquid circulation which is furnished with a feed pump for the purpose of filling all the tube chambers with heated liquid. By this means the cooling liquid which is fed into the tube chambers by the high-pressure circulation is forced out from the tube-chambers and forwarded to the equipment requiring cooling.
In the case of underground mine-shafts which extend over several levels at different depths, there is necessarily a very widespread and extensive system of network pipelines for discharging into a plurality of different items of low-temperature equipment. These items of low-temperature equipment are installed on the different levels, and therefore at different depths in the mine shaft. Their locations may need to be changed frequently due to the progress of the mining excavation or due to other exigencies which arise in the mine shaft. These circumstances can also give rise to pressure fluctuations which, as would be expected, have a deleterious effect on the performance of the cooling equipment.
The adaptation of such cooling equipment, which is subject to continual pressure fluctuations, to provide optimal operating conditions, demands the expenditure of a great amount of effort on technical control methods, as well as the permanent employment of trained technical personnel which, in its turn, detracts from the overall economy of the cooling equipment.